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Seasoned Wood & Burning Fuel

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As we move into the colder end of the year, we have listed tips and helpful advice in this blog, focusing on seasoned wood & burning fuel correctly for your wood burners.

You must keep in mind that any wood you choose to burn on your wood burning stove needs to be dry and thoroughly seasoned. Moisture content must be less than 20%.

If purchasing from a local supplier, moisture levels can be easily assessed with a moisture metre. Furthermore, you can check for the Woodsure sticker.

Burning dry wood increases the efficiency of your stove. Burning wet or unseasoned wood decreases the efficiency of the air wash system, which results in stained and blackened glass.

Seasoned Wood & Burning Fuel
ACR Larchdale 9kw Smoke Exempt Stove

What Affects Performance?

Mediocre performance from your stove can be brought on by wet or unseasoned wood.

Some signs to look out for are:

  • Fires difficult and slow to start and keep burning
  • Very smokey fires with very few flames
  • Unpleasant smoky smells both inside and sometimes outside the house
  • Dense grey smoke from the chimney
  • Low heat output
  • The glass of the stove becomes dirty quickly
  • Excessive and rapid creosote build-up in the flue system and chimney

A Stove Is Not An Incinerator

Despite how tempting it may be to chuck pieces of rubbish or even treated wood, you should avoid this at all costs. This type of “fuel” will not offer premium heat output and flames for you.

Alongside this, there are severe environmental knock-on effects through burning the wrong materials. Keep our planet healthy by burning seasoned, sustainable wood!

Stovax Stockton 11 Single Door Wood Burning Flat Top Eco Stove

Drying Wood Yourself

To dry timber yourself, the wood should be stacked, off the ground, in a sunny and windy location. Make sure to leave the logs under a waterproof, aerated cover. As a result, any natural seasoning is likely to take two summers or more.

Here are some signs to look out for when timber is readily seasoned:

  • A hollow sound when tapping indicates a dry log
  • When comparing logs of equivalent size or the same species, the wet wood is heavier
  • The looser the bark, the drier the log
  • Dry wood is lighter in colour
  • Wet wood is cheaper as it needs further drying before being burnt
Seasoned Wood & Burning Fuel
Look out for the "Ready To Burn" stickers on seasoned logs.

Check the Gov website for any further, nationwide advice on log burning and clean stoves.

Find our range of woodburning stoves here.

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